1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector for termination of a cable and having a printed circuit board mounted therein, where the cable termination connector must accomplish a tight bend between the line of the cable and the line of the mating of the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cables used for high speed applications must be very well shielded. One typical kind of cable has a number of wires included inside the cable jacket, each wire having a differential pair of signal conductors and a metallic shield around the pair of signal conductors. The metallic shield tends to make each wire very rigid and difficult to bend. This causes various routing problems when trying to connect a connector terminating the wires in a tight space.
One prior art connector for terminating a high speed cable at a right angle is shown in FIGS. 11-12. The connector 100 has a conductive shell 101. A dielectric insert 109 with a plurality of terminals 102 mounted therein is engaged within a slot (not labeled) through the shell 101. Forward ends (not labeled) of the terminals 102 project forward into the shell 101 for mating with a mating connector (not shown), and rearward ends (not labeled) of the terminals project rearward for soldering to pads (not shown) on a forward end of a printed circuit board (PCB) 103. A plurality of shielded wires 104 from a cable 105 is threaded through a spacer 106. Each wire has a pair of conductors 107 with a wire mesh shield (not labeled) covering the pair of conductors. The conductors 107 are soldered to pads (not labeled) on a rear end of the PCB 103 and the wires 104 in the cable 105 are bent at a 90 degree angle prior to overmolding of a dielectric boot 108 around the cable 105, the spacer 106, the PCB 103, and the shell 101. The tight bend required by this design can be difficult to produce because of the stiffness of the shielded wires 104. More importantly, the wire mesh shield may be damaged during the bending operation or during use in the field, adversely affecting the electrical performance of the cable.
Therefore, a solution to the above problems is desired.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical cable termination connector which accomplishes a right angle bend while preventing sharp bending of the wires being terminated.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical cable termination connector which accomplishes a right angle bend and which is easily manufactured.
An electrical cable termination connector in accordance with the present invention is designed to terminate stiff, shielded wires in a cable. The termination connector comprises a conductive front shell, a terminal insert comprised of a dielectric body and a plurality of terminals mounted in the dielectric body, a printed circuit board, a dielectric spacer holding wires of the cable being terminated, a conductive back shell, a pair of latches, and a dielectric boot.
The printed circuit board has a first edge and a second edge positioned at right angles to one another. A plurality of first solder pads along the first edge is electrically connected to a plurality of second solder pads along the second edge by traces in the printed circuit board. The insert is engaged with the front shell and the printed circuit board is fitted in a rear of the front shell. Terminals in the insert connect to the first solder pads. The wires are threaded through the spacer, which holds the wires in fixed relation to one another, making the inspection and manufacturing of the cable termination connector easier. Conductors in the wires are connected to the second solder pads. The back shell is assembled to cover the spacer, the printed circuit board, and a rear portion of the front shell. The latches assemble over the back shell and protrude into a mating cavity of the front shell for engaging with a mating connector. The boot is overmolded to cover the back shell, parts of the front shell and latches, the exposed wires, and an end of the cable. The design of the connector allows the cable to be connected to a mating connector oriented 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the cable, without the wires of the cable having to bend appreciably. This prevents signal degradation resulting from the wire being damaged by bending.